THE  ^lULATHO.  ^. 

'UC-NRLF 


B    3    lib    3B^ 


573 


STATUS  AND  SOCIAL  WORTH  OF  THE 
MULATTO 


By  Professor  H.  E.  JORDAN,  Ph.D. 

UNIVERSITY   OF  VIRGINIA 


HE  United  States  Jias  something  more  than  a  ^'^  negro  problem  ; 
it  has  a  mulatto  problem.  S  Our  10,000,000  c'^^'^  -.d  fellow-citizens 
iprise  somewhat  less  than  8,000,000  full-blooded  negroes;  approxi- 
\q\j  2,000,000  contain  varying  percentages  of  "white"  blood,  i  This 
lite  man's  burden"  has  several  cardinal  aspects,  notably,  social, 
lomic  and  political.  The  fundamental  aspect,  however,  is  the  bio- 
[c.  Does  the  presence  of  this  vast  company  of  "half-breeds"  com- 
(ate  or  facilitate  the  "problem"?  Certain  it  is  that  they  must  be 
:oned  with.  Are  they  an  aid  or  a  hindrance  to  a  permanent  satis- 
lory*  adjustment  of  ful^  relationship  between  the  white  race  and  the 
[red?  To  one  man  their  presence  is  a  source  of  black  despair,  to 
ther  of  radiant  hope.  Which  is  the  more  rational  attitude?  It  de- 
is  upon  the  scientific  facts  in  the  case.  The  first  point  concerns 
I  biological  status  of  this  mulatto  hybrid, 

|lt  may  help  the  subsequent  discussion  to  note  at  this  point  the  fact 
Jamaica  does  not  have  a  "negro  problem"  as  we  know  it  in  the 
Ited  States.     And  on  the  face  of  things  it  would  appear  that  it 
[ht  well  be  present  there  in  even  more  aggravated  form.     For  in 
laica  there  are  only  about  15,000  whites  among  a  colored  popula- 
of  about  700,000,  including  about  50,000  mulattoes.    It  should  be 
that  in  this  "Queen  of  the  Glreater  Antilles"  the  mulattoes,  as  a 
are  more  nearly  at  the  level  of  the  whites,  than  at  that  of  the 
negroes.    The  mulattoes  contribute  the  artisans,  the  teachers,  the 
Iness  and  professional  men.    They  are  the  very  backbone  of  wonder- 
Jamaica.     To  be  sure,  Jamaica  has  had  30  years  more  than  the 
ted  States  during  which  to  "solve"  her  "negi'o  problem."     But 
[laps  the  perfect  adjustment  between  the  races  in  Jamaica  and  the 
dnation  of  any  "problem"  of  this  kind  finds  its  explanation  in  a 
rational  and  more  consistent  political  treatment  made  possible 
the  absence  of  any  constitutional  prescription.     We  may  well  sus- 
that  the  inconsistency  of  according  to  the  negro  legal  (constitu- 
lal)    equality  and  withholding  it  practically    (politically  and   so- 
jy)  has  had  a  morally  harmful  effect  upon  both  black  and  white, 
stultify  oneself  as  between  one's  theory  and  practise  is  always  sub- 
live  of  high  moral  tone.     We  shall  return   to  this  point  below. 


THE  MULATTO  573 


THE  BIOLOGICAL  STATUS  AND  SOCIAL  WORTH  OF  THE 

MULATTO 


By  Professor  H.  E.  JORDAN,  Ph.D. 

UNIVERSITY   OF  VIRGINIA 


THE  United  States  }ias  something  more  than  a  ^' negro  problem"; 
it  has  a  mulatto  problem.  \  Our  10,000,000  cr^^  -_'\  fellow-citizens 
comprise  somewhat  less  than  8,000,000  full-blooded  negroes;  approxi- 
mately 2,000,000  contain  varying  percentages  of  "  white  "  blood,  i  This 
"white  man's  burden"  has  several  cardinal  aspects,  notably,  social, 
economic  and  political.  The  fundamental  aspect,  however,  is  the  bio- 
logic. Does  the  presence  of  this  vast  company  of  "half-breeds"  com- 
plicate or  facilitate  the  "problem"?  Certain  it  is  that  they  must  be 
reckoned  with.  Are  they  an  aid  or  a  hindrance  to  a  permanent  satis- 
factory* adjustment  of  ful^  relationship  between  the  white  race  and  the 
colored?  To  one  man  their  presence  is  a  source  of  black  despair,  to 
another  of  radiant  hope.  Which  is  the  more  rational  attitude  ?  It  de- 
pends upon  the  scientific  facts  in  the  case.  The  first  point  concerns 
the  biological  status  of  this  mulatto  hybrid, 

It  may  help  the  subsequent  discussion  to  note  at  this  point  the  fact 
that  Jamaica  does  not  have  a  "negro  problem"  as  we  know  it  in  the 
United  States.  And  on  the  face  of  things  it  would  appear  that  it 
might  well  be  present  there  in  even  more  aggravated  form.  For  in 
Jamaica  there  are  only  about  15,000  whites  among  a  colored  popula- 
tion of  about  700,000,  including  about  50,000  mulattoes.  It  should  be 
noted  that  in  this  "Queen  of  the  (greater  Antilles"  the  mulattoes,  as  a 
class,  are  more  nearly  at  the  level  of  the  whites,  than  at  that  of  the 
pure  negroes.  The  mulattoes  contribute  the  artisans,  the  teachers,  the 
business  and  professional  men.  They  are  the  very  backbone  of  wonder- 
ful Jamaica.  To  be  sure,  Jamaica  has  had  30  years  more  than  the 
United  States  during  which  to  "solve"  her  "negi'o  problem."  But 
perhaps  the  perfect  adjustment  between  the  races  in  Jamaica  and  the 
elimination  of  any  "problem"  of  this  kind  finds  its  explanation  in  a 
more  rational  and  more  consistent  political  treatment  made  possible 
by  the  absence  of  any  constitutional  prescription.  We  may  well  sus- 
pect that  the  inconsistency  of  according  to  the  negro  legal  (constitu- 
tional) equality  and  withholding  it  practically  (politically  and  so- 
cially) has  had  a  morally  harmful  effect  upon  both  black  and  white. 
To  stultify  oneself  as  between  one's  theory  and  practise  is  always  sub- 
versive of  high  moral  tone.     We   shall  return   to  this  point  below. 


574  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY  '^V^^?^ 

Suffice  it  to  note  here  that  the  Honorable  Mr.  Olivier,  governor  of 
Jamaica,  recognizes  in  the  presence  of  the  mulatto  only  a  past  bless- 
ing, a  present  advantage,  and  a  future  promise  of  great  good. 

In  the  beginning  we  shall  need  to  raise  the  question  once  more  as  to 
whether  the  Negro  and  Caucasian  are  actually  different  man-species, 
as  was  held  by  the  eminent  zoologist,  Louis  Agassiz,  and  as  is  still  held 
by  many,  as,  for  example,  the  noted  French  psychologist,  Le  Bon;  or 
whether  they  simply  represent  different  "races"  or  varieties  of  the 
same  species  homo,  as  is  more  commonly  believed.  Le  Bon  quotes  with 
approval : 

If  the  Negro  and  the  Caucasian  wore  snails^  all  zoologists  would  affirm 
unanimously  that  they  constitute  excellent  species,  which  could  never  have  de- 
scended from  the  same  couple  from  which  they  had  gradually  come  to  differ.* 

However,  simply  external  gross  appearance  is  no  infallible  criterion 
by  which  to  judge  of  species.  And  the  more  highly  developed  the  or- 
ganism the  wider  do  the  individuals  differ  within  the  species.  Two 
human  brothers  may  differ  infinitely  more  than  two  true  snail-species. 
Zoology  can  furnish  many  examples  where  a  larval  form,  or  individuals 
of  opposite  sex,  or  the  same  form  modified  by  peculiar  environmental 
conditions,  have  been  mistaken  for  separate  species.  The  real  scien- 
tific test  is  that  of  impossibility  of  effecting  a  cross,  or  of  infertility 
inter  se  of  hybrids  of  a  possible  cross.  A  cross  between  the  horse  and 
the  ass  produces  a  mule.  But  mules  are  infertile  if  interbred.  Hence 
horse  and  ass  are  separate  species.  A  very  valuable  cross  can  also  be 
effected  between  the  cow  and  the  buffalo.  But  the  offspring  are  barren 
bred  among  themselves.  Hence  cow  and  buffalo  are  at  least  of  different 
■species.  The  mulatto  is  the  product  of  a  negro-white  cross.  He  is  as- 
fecund  with  his  own  kind,  or  when  he  mates  with  white  or  negro,  as 
.-either  pure-breeding  negroes  or  whites  are.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
mulatto  is  probably  more  prolific  than  the  normal  average  of  either 
white  or  negro.  During  the,  past  twenty  years  he  has  increased  at 
twice  the  rate  of  the  Negro.  The  Negro  is  then  simply  a  black  variety 
of  the  human  species.  He  is  the  white  man's  brother;  and  we  may 
both  be  cousins  of  the  apes. 

The  second  question  that  presents  itself  is  this :  Is  the  mulatto  nec- 
essarily degenerate?  The  idea  has  been  and  is  very  eminently  and 
widely  held  that  the  crossing  of  races  is  intrinsically  bad,  biologically 
harmful;  that  it  inevitably  and  inexorably  works  deterioration. 
Agassiz  noted  in  Brazil  a 

decadence  that  results  from  cross-breeding  which  goes  on  in  this  country  to  a 
greater  extent  than  elsewhere.  This  cross-breeding  is  fatal  to  the  best  qualities 
whether  of  the  white  man,  the  black,  or  the  Indian,  and  produces  an  indescribable 
type  whose  physical  and  mental  energy  suffers. 

* ' '  The  Psychology  of  Peoples, ' '  New  York,  1912,  p.  4. 


TEE  MULATTO  575 

Humboldt  and  Darwin  held  the  same  opinion.     Hilaire  Belloc  in 

^^The  French  Eevolution"  notes  regarding  Marat 

Some  say  .  .  .  that  a  mixture  of  racial  types  produced  in  him  a  perpetual 
physical  disturbance:  his  face  was  certainly  distorted  and  ill -balanced  (p.  78). 

Sclmltz  claims  to  have  noted  an  intrinsic  deterioration  in  Gentile- 
Jew  crosses.     Le  Bon  expresses  himself  as  follows: 

To  cross  two  peoples  is  to  change  simultaneously  both  their  physical  con- 
stitution and  their  mental  constitution  .  .  .  the  first  effect  of  interbreeding 
between  different  races  is  to  destroy  the  soul  of  the  race,  and  by  their  soul  we 
mean  that  congeries  of  common  ideas  and  sentiments  which  make  the  strength 
of  people,  and  without  which  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  nation  or  a  fatherland 
...  a  people  may  sustain  many  losses,  may  be  overtaken  by  many  catastrophes, 
and  yet  recover  from  the  ordeal,  but  it  has  lost  everything  and  is  past  recovery, 
when  it  has  lost  its  soul  (pp.  53-55). 

Le  Bon  explains  this  supposed  necessary  degeneration  in  half- 
breeds  as  due  to  the  "influence  of  contrary  heredities^'  which  "saps 
their  morality  and  character."  We  shall  return  to  Le  Bon's  idea  of  a 
loss  of  "soul"  as  consequent  of  inter-racial  crosses. 

This  same  idea  of  necessary  degeneracy  in  crossbreeds  is  the  main 
motive  of  much  opposition  to  foreign  immigration.  We  shall  see  that 
this  is  the  very  least  element  of  danger;  in  fact,  it  may  be  a  real 
panacea  to  other  actual  evils  of  immigration,  otherwise  {i.  e.,  without 
neutralization  through  cross-breeding)  a  serious  menace.  Note  here 
the  superb  products  of  the  English,  German,  Dutch,  French  and  Span- 
ish crosses  of  late  and  post-colonial  days.  The  superiority  of  especially 
the  English-German  crosses,  very  generally  noted,  finds  its  reason  in 
the  initial  superiority  of  the  crossing  stocks.  And  this  is  the  secret  of 
the  entire  matter.  Offspring  take  after  their  parents,  whether  these 
be  of  the  same  or  different  race.  The  production  of  the  Boer  race,  one 
of  well-marked  physical  and  mental  characteristics,  notwithstanding 
that  it  is  of  mongrel  immigration,  Dutch,  French,  and  in  some  degree, 
British,  is  sufficient  disproof  of  inherent  hurt  in  inter-racial  crosses. 
The  more  progressive  of  "white"  nations  have  been  produced  by 
European  interbreedings,  for  example,  the  English  and  the  Bulgars. 
Furthermore,  Davenport  reminds  us  of  probably  even  Ethiopian  con- 
tributions to  our  European  stock,  "when  we  stop  to  consider  the  slaves, 
not  only  white  and  yellow,  but  also  brown  and  black,  that  were  brought 
to  Rome,  became  free  there  and  contributed  elements  to  the  population 
of  Italy  and  to  all  Europe."  Indeed,  this  may  well  have  been  a  partial 
source  of  the  pigment  of  European  brunets. 

Thoroughbred  parents  produce  similar  progeny.  Inferior  or  de- 
generate parents  have  only  defective  children.  In  proof  of  which  the 
following :  Probably  the  most  brilliant  student  I  have  ever  known  is  the 
son  of  a  high-class  Chinese  woman  by  an  American  missionary.  There 
is  probably  as  great  a  difference,  from  a  general  anatomical  viewpoint, 


576  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY 

exclusive  of  skin-pigment,  between  a  Chinese  and  Caucasian  as  between 
a  Negro  and  Caucasian.  Similarly  with  respect  to  a  number  of  Cau- 
casian-Japanese crosses.  There  is  no  instinctive  revulsion  against  such 
alliance;  hence  they  are  frequently  made  by  superior  individuals;  and 
the  offspring  are  of  the  same  superior  type,  without  evidence  of  de- 
terioration. Indeed,  it  frequently  happens  that  an  unusually  fortunate 
combination  of  the  best  racial  characteristics  of  both  races  appears  in 
an  offspring  of  such  cross,  resulting  in  an  extraordinarily  endowed  hu- 
man being. 

I  admit  the  general  inferiority  of  black-white  offspring.  Defective 
half-breeds  are  too  prevalent  and  obtruding  to  permit  denying  the  ap- 
parently predetermined  result  of  such  crosses.  But  I  emphatically 
deny  that  the  result  is  inherent  in  the  simple  fact  of  cross-breeding. 
There  are  not  a  few  very  striking  exceptions  among  my  own  acquaint- 
ances. Absolutely  the  best  mulatto  family  I  have  ever  known  traces  its 
ancestry  back  on  both  the  maternal  and  paternal  side  to  high-grade 
white  grandfathers  and  pure-type  negro  grandmothers.  The  reason  for 
the  frequently  inferior  product  of  such  crosses  is  that  the  better  ele- 
ments of  both  races  under  ordinary  conditions  of  easy  mating  with  their 
own  type  feel  an  instinctive  repugnance  to  intermarriage.  Under  these 
usual  circumstances  a  white  man  who  stoops  to  mating  with  a  colored 
woman,  or  a  colored  woman  who  will  accept  a  white  man,  are  already  of 
quite  inferior  type.  One  would  not  expect  superior  offspring  from  such 
parents,  if  it  concerned  horses  or  dogs.  Why  should  we  expect  the 
biologically  impossible  in  the  case  of  man  ?  If  the  parents  are  of  good 
type,  so  will  be  the  offspring.  And  even  with  the  handicap  of  frequently 
degraded  white  ancestry,  the  mulatto  of  our  country,  as  in  Jamaica, 
forms  the  most  intelligent  and  potentially  useful  element  of  our  col- 
ored population. 

The  fact  then  is  established,  beyond  all  possibility  of  disproof,  it 
seems  to  me,  that  a  negro-white  cross  does  not  inherently  mean  de- 
generacy; and  that  the  mulatto,  measured  by  present-day  standards  of 
Caucasian  civilization,  from  economic  and  civic  standpoints,  is  an  ad- 
vance upon  a  pure  negro.  dWr  further  support  of  the  potency  of  even  a 
relatively  remote  white  ancestry  may  be  cited  the  almost  unique  in- 
stance of  the  Moses  of  the  colored  race,  Booker  T.  Washingtoni  As  one 
mingles  day  by  day  with  colored  people  of  all  grades  and  shades,  one  is 
impressed  with  the  significance  of  even  small  admixtures  of  Caucasian 
bloodjj  What  elements  of  hope  or  menace  lie  hidden  in  these  mulatto 
millions  ?    How  can  they  help  to  solve  or  confuse  the  "  problem  "  ? 

Let  us  see  clearly  what  we  are  dealing  with.  What  are  the  large  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  of  the  three  types,  white,  mulatto  and  black, 
forming  our  civic  and  social  complex  ?  As  to  the  negro — I  quote  from 
Le  Bon: 


THE  MULATTO  577 

Above  the  primitive  races  are  found  the  inferior  races,  represented  more 
especially  by  the  negroes.  They  are  capable  of  attaining  to  the  rudiments  of 
civilization,  but  to  the  rudiments  only.  They  have  never  been  able  to  get 
beyond  quite  barbarian  forms  of  civilization,  even  where  chance  has  made  them 
the  heirs,  as  in  Saint  Domingo,  of  superior  civilization,  .  .  .  The  inferior  races 
further  display  but  an  infinitesimal  power  of  attention  and  reflection;  they 
possess  the  spirit  of  imitation  in  a  high  degree,  the  habit  of  drawing  inaccurate 
general  conditions  from  particular  cases,  a  feeble  capacity  for  observation  and 
for  deriving  useful  results  from  their  observations,  an  extreme  mobility  of 
character,  and  a  very  notable  lack  of  foresight.  The  instinct  of  the  moment  is 
their  only  guide  (pp.  ^7-30). 

The  common  European  estimate  of  the  negro,  according  to  Olivier, 
is  that 

he  is  brutish,  benighted  and  unprogressive,   .   .   .   "half -devil  and  half -child" 
(''White  Capital  and  Coloured  Labour,'^  London,  1910,  p.  2). 

My  own  experience  compels  me  to  accept  Le  Bon's  estimate  as 
applicable  to  our  American  pure  negro  in  perhaps  slightly  less  extreme 
form,  and  with  occasional  exception ;  but  "  devil "  is  no  more  applicable 
to  him  than  to  white  "brutes.''  Le  Bon's  description  would  seem  to 
describe  fairly  accurately  the  racial  characteristics  of  the  negroes.  The 
opinion  of  many  men  with  whom  I  have  discussed  this  matter  confirms 
me  in  this  judgment.  The  average  of  the  Caucasian  race  is  by  impli- 
cation characterized  by  the  opposite  traits  of  the  typical  negro. 

The  negro  differs  from  the  Caucasian  in  several  well-marked  ana- 
tomical characteristics.  Any  one  who  has  associated  with  negroes 
detects  even  more  striking  mental  or  temperamental  differences.  These 
are  quite  obvious  to  teachers  of  mixed  schools,  fairly  common  in  certain 
northern  states.  Where  negro,  mulatto  and  white  are  jointly  concerned 
the  teachers  are  unequivocal  in  their  opinion  that  mental  alertness  and 
the  development  of  the  higher  psychical  activities  corresponds  in 
degree  quite  uniformly  with  the  amount  of  "  white  "  blood  as  judged 
by  color  of  the  skin.     Le  Bon  also  is  quite  emphatic  on  this  point : 

Each  race  possesses  a  mental  constitution  as  unvarying  as  its  anatomical 
constitution  (p.  6). 
and 

The  mental  abyss  that  separates  them  (negro  and  white)  is  evident  (p.  28). 

This  "  mental  constitution  "  is  the  source  of  a  race's  "  sentiments, 
thoughts,  institutions,  beliefs  and  arts,"  its  "  soul." 

Where  does  the  mulatto  stand  with  respect  to  negroes  and  whites  ? 
In  general,  as  a  race,  approximately  midway.      But  it  includes  types 
combining  the  best  as  well  as  the  worst  of  both  races.      The  former 
almost  certainly  predominate  at  the  present  time. 
"pin  Jamaica,  according  to  Governor  Olivier, 

In  practise  it  is  the  fact  that  the  pure  negro  does  not  show  the  business 
capacity  and  ambition  of  the  man  of  mixed  race,  and  there  are  few,  if  any, 


578  TEE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY 

persons  of  pure  African  extraction  in  positions  of  high  consideration,  authority 
or  responsibility  (p.  34). 

Eespecting  the  status  and  worth  of  the  mulatto  in  Jamaica,  Gov- 
ernor Olivier  expresses  the  opinion  that  he  is 

an  acquisition  to  the  community,  and,  under  favorable  conditions,  an  advance 
on  the  pure-bred  African  ...  an  indispensable  part  of  any  West  Indian  com- 
munity, and  that  a  colony  of  black,  colored  and  vrhites  has  far  more  organic 
efficiency  and  far  more  promise  in  it  than  a  colony  of  black  and  white  alone. 
.  .  .  The  graded  mixed  class  in  Jamaica  helps  to  make'  an  organic  whole  of 
the  community  and  save  it  from  the  distinct  cleavage  (p.  38). 

The  mulatto  has  appeared  through  the  white  man's  acts.  He  will 
greatly  increase  in  the  coming  generations,  by  breeding  with  both  his 
kind  and  with  pure  negroes^  A  high  fertility  is  increased  relative  to 
the  negro  by  a  lessening  death-rate.  It  is  fortunate  that  he  represents 
an  advance  on  the  negro,  and  a  real  national  advantage  in  our  efforts 
to  adjust  the  negro  ^^  problem." 

Three  further  questions  must  be  considered  before  a  summary  can 
be  given  of  the  mulatto's  social  and  civic  value. .  (1)  Are  there 
fairly  well-fixed  upper  limits  of  mental  capacity  for  negroes  and  mulat- 
toes?  (2)  What  are  the  known  and  established  principles  of  inherit- 
ance of  racial  traits  of  negroes  and  whites;  in  other  words,  will  it  be 
possible  by  some  control  of  hybrid  and  inter-racial  crosses  to  produce 
a  colored  stock  in  which  a  majority  may  combine  the  desirable  traits  of 
both  white  and  negro?  (3)  Will  it  be  possible  under  the  constitution 
and  its  present  amendments  to  deal  with  the  problem,  in  accordance 
with  the  dictates  of  science  and  common  sense  ? 

With  respect  to  the  first  point  then:  We  have  here  only  opinion; 
but  it  is  absolutely  unanimous:  the  negro  can  not  undergo  mental 
development  beyond  a  certain  definite  maximum.^     The  curious  thing 

'  Since  this  was  written  I  have  seen  practically  the  contrary  conclusion  stated 
by  Professor  Herbert  Adolphus  Miller^  of  Olivet  College,  Michigan,  in  a  work 
which  he  has  kindly  permitted  me  to  read  in  manuscript  and  from  which  he 
allows  me  to  quote.  This  is  a  splendid  investigation,  unique  from  the  stand- 
point of  its  materials,  and  marked  especially  by  originality  and  caution.  In 
essence  it  is  exactly  the  sort  of  research  I  am  pleading  for  in  my  paper. 
"Psychophysical  tests"  were  ''given  to  2,488  Negroes,  520  Indians  and  1,493 
Whites,  including  596  Mountain  Whites  in  the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  Moun- 
tains." Six  tests  were  employed  for  (1)  Memory  (a)  discontinuous;  (&)  log- 
ical; (2)  Rational  Instinct;  (3)  Imagination;  (4)  Color  Choice;  and  (5)  Reac- 
tion Time.  He  summarizes  his  conclusions  as  follows:  (1)  There  is  no  sharp 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  races  within  the  range  of  the  given  tests; 
(2)  the  differences  are  of  degree,  not  of  kind;  (3)  this  degree  is  not  a  race- 
limitation,  for  many  whites  are  inferior  to  many  negroes,  even  in  logical  mem- 
ory; (4)  from  the  standpoint  of  original  endowment  there  is  nothing  in  kind  to 
differentiate  the  negro  from  the  Caucasian;  (5)  no  faculty  is  lacking  in  the 
negro,  and  there  are  some  that  are  especially  strong f  (6)  limits  of  capacity  do 
not  follow  race  lines  (italics  my  own.)     The  question  arises  as  to  how  far  these 


TEE  MULATTO  579 

is  that  no  attempt  is  made  to  establish  this  opinion  on  a  scientific  basis,  ^ 
and  to  definitely  determine  that  limit  of  mental -development  beyond 
which  the  law  of  diminishing  return^s  dictates  cessation  of  effort;  and 
furthermore,  that  in  flat  contradiction  to  this  common  opinion  educa- 
tion is  planned  in  apparent  utter  disregard  of  it. 

We  are  now  in  possession  of  a  fairly  precise  and  very  simple  method 
of  determining  innate  mental  capacity  in  the  Binet-Simon  series  of 
mental  tests.  These  tests  ought  at  once  to  be  applied  to  several  thou- 
sand each  of  negro  and  colored  school  children.  The  results  should 
yield  a  fairly  accurate  idea  as  to  the  relative  capacity  for  education  and 
the  limits  for  each.  This  is  of  very  practical  importance.  If  it  can 
be  shown  that  the  negro  brain  has  definite,  relatively  low  limits  of 
flexibility  and  development,  money  should  not  be  spent  in  attempting 
the  impossible.  This  is  the  more  serious  in  view  of  the  common  inade- 
quacy of  educational  facilities.  The  limit  of  economical  educative 
return  being  determined,  the  negro  should  be  given  the  best  possible 
opportunities  for  reaching  the  uppermost  range.  This  would  be  to  the 
best  interest  of  white  and  negro  alike.  If  the  returns  indicated,  as  is 
commonly  assumed,  that  mulattoes  are  endowed  with  a  higher  educable 
limit,  national  interests  again  demand  that  they  be  given  means  of 
attaining  the  maximum  capacity. 

The  point  is  that  our  activities  along  educational  lines,  seeing  that 
the  financial  resources  of  the  states  most  intimately  concerned  are 
relatively  meager,  should  follow  clearly  indicated  paths  as  determined 
by  scientific  facts.  Even  with  our  present  knowledge  it  would  seem 
that  wisdom  and  foresight  should  take  more  practical  heed  of  Booker 
Washington's  keen  suggestion  and  example,  namely,  that  the  education 
of  the  negro  be  for  the  present  chiefly  along  industrial,  and  secondly 
moral  lines.  The  Binet  tests  would  also  early  detect  the  feeble-minded 
and  mentally  defective,  an  especially  serious  menace  in  an  already 
naturally  handicapped  race.  Very  rigid  safeguards  should  be  pro- 
vided against  the  reproductive  liberty  of  these  unfortunates,  so  that 
the  race  suffer  no  internal  contamination.  A  fiifst  step  in  the  scien- 
tific approach  of  this  fundamental  aspect  of  the.  "problem"  would 
certainly  seem  to  be  the  very  extensive  study  of  colored  mentality  by 
the  Binet  measuring  scale.  We  shall  work  largely  in  the  dark  until 
we  have  this  information. 

\^ith  respect  to  the  second  point:  Until  recently  it  was  believed 
that  mulattoes  genera:ily  bred*true  and  became  progressively  lighter 

conclusions  follow  from  neg^ji^qpr  inability,  to  differentiate  the  mulatto  from 
the  negro.  Moreover,  the  bI^P  tests  seem  to  me  superior  for  the  purpose  in 
hand  to  those  employed  by  ^^essor  Miller,  and  for  this  reason,  and  also 
because  scientific  work  touchii^^  important  and  serious  a  matter  needs  con- 
firmation and  reconfirmation,  should  be  used  in  further  more  extensive  similar 
investigations. 


58o  TEE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY 

with  succeeding  generations.  We  now  know  that  skin  color  in  inherit- 
ance follows  in  general  Mendelian  laws  of  inheritance,  frequently  giving 
rise  to  white  and  black  '^  sports ''  in  every  large  family  of  mulatto 
children.  In  accordance  with  Mendelian  principles,  the  result  of  a 
white-negro  cross  is  always  brown-skinned,  the  dark  skin  color  dom- 
inating. "  White  "  and  '^  black  "  skin  colors  are  a  pair  of  unit  char- 
acters. White  color  means  the  absence  of  the  determiner  for  deep 
pigmentation  in  the  germ-plasm;  dark  skin  is  due  to  the  presence  of 
such  determiner.  When  first  generation  hybrids  intermarry,  in  an 
appropriately  large  family  there  will  appear  invariably  one  or  several 
children  lighter  than  either  parent,  and  one  or  several  darker;  that  is, 
the  "  lighter  "  and  the  "  darker "  have  reverted  to  the  grandparental 
character  for  skin  color,  j  This  reveals  the  fact  of  a  segregation  of  the 
determiners  of  skin  color  in  the  germ-cells,  producing  a  purity  of 
gametes. 

We  are  now  in  possession  of  facts,  thanks  mainly  to  the  labors  of 
Professor  Karl  Pearson  and  his  collaborators  at  the  Galton  Eugenics 
Laboratory,  and  to  Professor  Davenport  and  his  staff  of  assistants  at 
the  Eugenics  Record  Ofiice,  showing  that  the  inheritance  of  several 
scores  of  human  physical  and  mental  traits  are  in  close  conformity  with 
Mendelian  formulae.  There  is  no  countervailing  fact,  and  there  is 
much  precise  and  yet  more  suggestive  data,  to  the  assumption  that 
many  of  the  really  desirable  negro  traits  {e.  g.,  physical  strength, 
resistance  or  relative  immunity  to  certain  infections,  capacity  for 
routine,  cheerful  temperament,  vivid  imagination,  rhythmic  and 
melodic  endowment,  etc.)  are  of  the  nature  of  unit  characters  and  as 
such  may  be  transmitted  according  to  fixed  laws  by  simple  control  of 
matings. 

If  a  demi-god  could  thus  experiment  with  human  crosses,  as  biol- 
ogists now  do  with  animal  breeds,  a  pure  race  could  undoubtedly  be 
established  combining  the  best  elements  of  the  negro  and  the  white. 
I  am  well  aware  that  little  could  probably  be  actually  accomplished 
under  present  social  conditions,  even  if  it  were  not  morally  inimical,  to 
make  the  experiment  by  legal  control  of  negro  and  mulatto  crosses. 
But  some  little  could  be  accomplished  by  education  and  the  arousing 
of  the  sentiment  of  colored  racial  pride.  The  point  seems  clear  that 
in  the  presence  of  2,000,000  mulattoes,  steadily  increasing  in  number, 
of  relatively  superior  worth  to  the  pure  negro,  we  have  a  key  to  the 
solution  of  our  problem.  The  mulatto  is  the  leaven  with  which  to  lift 
the  negro  race.  He  serves  as  our  best  lev,er  for  negro  elevation.  The 
mulatto  does  not  feel  the  instinctive  men^l  nausea  ito  negro  mating. 
He  might  even  be  made  to  feel  a  sacred  mission  in  tliis  respect.  The 
negro  aspires  to  be  mulatto,  the  mulatto  to  be  white.  These  aspira- 
tions are  worthy,  and  should  be  encouraged.      Possibility  of  marriage 


TEE  MULATTO  581 

with  mulatto  would  be  a  very  real  incentive  to  serious  efforts  for  devel- 
opment on  the  part  of  the  negro.  The  logical  conclusion  may  follow  in 
the  course  of  the  ages.  At  any  rate  from  present  indications  our  hope 
lies  in  the  mulatto.  A  wise  statesmanship  and  rational  patriotism  will 
make  every  effort  to  conserve  him,  and  imbue  him  with  his  mission  in 
the  interests  of  the  brotherhood  of  a  better  man.  The  problem  seems 
possible  of  solution  only  as  the  mulatto  will  undertake  it,  with  the 
earnest  help  of  the  white. 

But  Le  Bon  tells  us  the  cross-breed  has  no  "  soul."  Surely  a  soul- 
less race  would  be  a  world  calamity!  But  these  words  are  poetical, 
not  scientific.  A  mulatto  has  no  more  lost  his  soul  in  being  hybrid  or 
a  descendant  thereof  than  I  should  if  I  were  to  take  up  my' abode  in 
Fiji.  This  would  surely  hurt.  But  I  should  be  no  less  a  man  for  all 
my  mental  pain.  The  experience  might  conceivably  work  to  the  expan- 
sion of  my  soul.  The  mulatto  is  as  loyal  to  his  country,  his  friends 
and  his  conscience,  according  to  his  lights,  as  a  "white"  man.  He  is 
just  as  sensitive.  He  feels  as  deeply,  experiences  the  same  thrills  of 
happiH|ss  as  other  rational  human  beings.  He  has  a  soul  in  as  true  a 
sense  as  the  word  is  used  by  Le  Bon  as  any  man.  He  has  more  truly  a 
souljfei  this  sense  than  the  "  thoroughbred  "  professor  who  has  lost  his 
childhood's  religious  faith.     Olivier  says  on  this  point : 

Whereas  the  pure  race  in  its  prime  knows  one  man  only,  itself,  and  one 
God,  its  own  will,  the  hybrid  is  incapable  of  this  exclusive  racial  pride,  and 
inevitably  becomes  aware  that  there  is  something,  the  something  that  we  call 
human,  which  is  greater  than  the  one  race  or  the  other,  and  something  in  the 
nature  of  spiritual  power,  that  is  stronger  than  national  God  or  will.  What 
were,  to  each  separate  race,  final  fojms  of  truth,  become,  when  competing  in  the 
focus-  of  our  human  consciousness,  mutually  d^tructive,  and  each  recognizably 
insufficient.  Yet  the  hydrid  finds  himself  still  very  much  alive,  and  not  at  all 
extinguished  with  the  collapse  of  his  racial  theories  (p.  25,  italics  my  own). 

The  truth  is  that  the  hybrid  finds  himself  alive  and  human,  with  all 
that  this  signifies  in  terms  of  capacity  for  soul  ^development.  The 
pure-bred  has  no  better  initial  equipment.  In  the  matter  of  human 
fundamentals  they  come  to  differ  only  as  a  different  nurture  plays  upon 
a  very  similar  human  nature.  There  surely  are  no  real  data  for  the 
support  of  Le  Bon's  notion  that  contrary  heredities  sap  the  vitality  of 
hybrids  and  leave  them  barren  of  soul. 

The  last  point  is  equally  difficult,  but,  like  the  preceding  two,  not 
forbidding.  It  may  be  briefly  more  or  less  sumniarily  disposed  of. 
The  negro  can  not  afford  to  surrender  aught  granted  him  under  the 
constitution.  It  would  be  harmful  to  both  colored  and  whites  at  this 
stage  of  progress  to  have  such  alteration  achieved  as  would  give  the 
governing  powers  the  free  hand- exercised  by  the  English  in  their  treat- 
ment of  the  negro  of  Jamaica.     A  comparison  of  conditions  as  between 


582  TEE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY 

the  United  States  and  Jamaica  with  reference  to  its  negro  population, 
however,  shows  ns  floundering  far  in  the  distance.  How  can  English 
colonial  conditions  be  paralleled  without  violence  to  our  constitution? 
By  a  simple  method,  apparent  to  all,  the  adoption  of  which  would  work 
incalculable  benefit  to  our  nation.  The  canker  of  our  present  political 
condition  as  it  afiects  the  negro  is  the  moral  sore  of  a  stultified  con- 
science. Very  naturally  when  the  negro  realizes  that  the  constitution 
makes  him  politically  the  equal  of  any  white  man,  while  he  knows  he 
is  an  inferior  individual,  if  indeed  only  in  the  sense  that  a  child  is 
inferior  to  an  adult,  he  detects  a  first  inconsistency.  This  he  accepts ; 
and  views  equal  suffrage  as  a  gift.  But  when  he  further  realizes  that  - 
equality  of  suffrage  is  a  theory,  which  is  disregarded  in  practise,  he  sees 
an  inconsistency  which  he  resents,  and  which  moves  him  to  loss  of 
respect.  This  is  the  root  of  distrust  and  dissimulation  and  antag- 
onism, which  is  at  the  source  of  the  troubles  which  constitute  our  . 
"negro  problem."  Skin  color  among  mulattoes  is  no  scientific . index 
of  potential  civic  worth. 

In  brief,  a  state's  right  of  suffrage  should  be  based  upon  reasonable 
and  uniform  qualifications  applied  actually,  as  verbally,  to  all  alike 
of  whatever  color  (and  finally  sex).  No  ballot  is  free  from  the  poten- 
tiality of  great  ill,  unless  it  be  cast  by  an  honest,  thrifty  and  intelligent 
hand.  Appropriate  educational  and  property  qualifications  uniform 
for  all  members  of  a  state,  and  probably  as  between  states,  is  a  reason- 
able, just  and  right  requirement.  This  is  a  first  step,  for  which  we 
already  have  the  light  of  reason.  Further  steps  must  be  taken  more 
or  less  cautiously  coincidently  with  accumulating  scientific  data.  The 
"  problem  "  is  bright  with  hope ;  but  it  must  be  approached  with  charity 
and  consistency  and  with  scientific  skill  and  courage. 


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